HEAR - Higher Education Achievement Report

Accessing your HEAR

The HEAR provides a single electronic source of information recording your
achievement. It details activities beyond the traditional transcript or degree
result. It can be accessed by students whilst studying on the degree programme
or after completion and graduation

The HEAR applies to UCL undergraduate students who enrolled for the first
time in the 2011-2012 academic session and thereafter. Students who enrolled on
their degree prior to September 2011 should continue to use the Transcripts
system. Please refer to the Who will receive a HEAR?' section below for further
details.

UCL was established in 1826 in order to open up education in England for
the first time to students of any race, class or religion. UCL is a
world-class, research-led, multi-faculty university, consciously and
deliberately global and wide-ranging in its reach and ambition. Student
achievements are evidence of engagement with one of the most prominent issues
of our time: citizenship.

A Higher Education Achievement Report, (HEAR), sets out what an
undergraduate student has achieved during their period of enrolment at UCL in a
verified format. It incorporates the traditional transcript but also
acknowledges achievements a student has made. It is available in an electronic format only.

The purpose of the HEAR is to provide more information about individual
student achievement and is intended to help students’ potential employers,
other Universities or any other third party authorised by the student, to gain
more insight into programmes of study, modules passed and other verified
activity individual students have achieved. Although students are not obliged
to share any of the information, it is envisaged that the HEAR will enhance
employability or further education opportunities because it provides more
verified information about them.

The HEAR is a national requirement. It includes the model developed by the
European Commission, Council of Europe and UNESCO/CEPES for a diploma supplement. The HEAR provides a description of the
nature, level and context of a programme. As well as verifying academic results
it also records non-degree related achievements that have been verified by
UCL. These include:

being an officer of a Club or Society

voluntary activity that has been recognised by the
Voluntary Services Unit as being significant enough for inclusion in a HEAR.

completed Language Centre modules that do not form
part of a student’s degree programme.

Details about non-degree activities that are eligible for inclusion on a
HEAR are set out in the section entitled Non-degree related student achievements.

UCL participated in a national steering group managed by the Centre for
Recording Achievement and agreed to participate in the first tranche of
institutions providing HEARs from the 2011-12 academic session onwards. All
other higher education institutions that did not participate in the pilot are
expected to provide HEARs from the 2012-2013 academic session.

All undergraduate students who enrolled for the first time in the 2011-2012
academic session or thereafter will be eligible to receive a HEAR with the exception of
students registered on the following programmes:

MB,BS

Intercalated degrees

Affiliate programmes

School of Pharmacy programme Certificate in Medicines Management for Pharmacy Technicians programme

Students who enrolled for the first time in 2012-2013 or
thereafter on undergraduate School of Pharmacy programmes (with the exception
of Cert Medicines Management for Pharmacy Technicians) are eligible to receive
a HEAR.

All undergraduate students who first registered before
the 2011-2012 and postgraduate students will continue to receive a paper
transcript with their degree certificates. Affiliate students will continue to
receive a transcript from the Examinations Office.

The HEAR is a national requirement and the layout and format has been
prescribed at a national level by the HEAR National Steering Group. This layout and format has been
copyrighted. It is to be provided as an
electronic document. The service UCL
are using to provide students with a HEAR is Gradintel, part of the Tribal
Group and the suppliers of UCL’s student information system (Portico).

The overarching format and data fields of UCL’s HEAR transcripts have been
agreed by UCL’s Education Committee and are non-editable. The inclusion of most
of the non-degree related achievements can be controlled by students. Further details
about this are provided in the section entitled Non-degree related student
achievements

Students who are eligible to receive a HEAR will access them via
Gradintel’s website. HEARs are provided in electronic format and cannot be
printed by students.

Access and use of Gradintel services is free for students. Students who
wish to share their HEAR with third parties such as prospective employers,
other higher education institutions or any other third party can do so by
issuing them with a secure token. Third parties, who have a token issued by
students, may view the verified HEAR and print a copy, but it should be noted
that the printed version is no longer a verified record by UCL.

UCL has no access to any information posted by individual students to the
Gradintel website.

UCL will publish interim HEARs on Gradintel’s site twice a year in August
and October. In both cases, publication relates to the previous academic
session. Students will be made aware
that HEARs are available by the Examinations Section, Registry and Academic
Services.

HEARs will record academic achievements (results) and verified non-degree
achievements. Each publication will overwrite any previously published HEAR.
When a student leaves UCL upon graduation, or for any other reason, a final
version will be published.

On an exceptional basis UCL will provide a paper copy of a transcript.
Students who require a paper transcript should contact examinations@ucl.ac.uk.

Gradintel provides other services and students who are currently not eligible for a HEAR can register
directly with Gradintel. These services are also free for students. However UCL
will not be uploading academic and non-degree related achievements for these
students.

By default all recognised achievements that have been verified by UCL will
be published on the HEAR.

With the exception of prizes and scholarships received for merit or for
merit and need, students will be given two opportunities a year to review their
non-degree related achievements and to flag any that they do not wish to be
published. This facility will be available twice a year until the final version
of the HEAR is published.

All other information on the HEAR cannot be edited.

UCL will email students to review their non-degree related achievements and
will give a reasonable window of time in which to do this If students take no action, all of their
verified achievements will be published.

Students who do not want a prize or scholarship to appear on their HEAR
must reject the award from the outset.

Students who have any questions about their non-degree achievements
recorded on a HEAR should contact the unit or service that verifies the
activity. For example, in the case of a Departmental/Divisional prize query,
students should contact the relevant Department/Division directly. For a query
relating to Union Colours, students should contact UCLU.

Students who do not see their UCLU achievements listed
should firstly respond to the Union email requesting their permission to share
this information with UCL. The achievements will then be listed when the
HEAR is re-published in the first week of October.

Gradintel is a service UCL is using to publish your HEAR
electronically and allows you to share your HEAR with others such as potential
employers or other universities. More
information is available from gradintel.com.

4. Why
have Gradintel accounts been set up?

UCL is working in partnership with Gradintel, part of the
Tribal Group who supply UCL’s student records database, to produce HEARs. HEARs are virtual documents that can be
accessed whilst students are still studying at UCL and when they have left.

5. Why
is it necessary to register with Gradintel?

You need to register with Gradintel so that you have a
secure way of accessing your HEAR.

6. How
can HEARs be shared with third parties?

You can issue a token to third parties and specify how many
times it can be viewed. More information about this is available from gradintel.com.

7. How much does it cost?

Gradintel’s services, including access to the HEAR,
are free for students.

8. Why is my HEAR not on Gradintel?

The first HEARs will be published in August 2012 for
undergraduate students who enrolled for the first time in 2011. These students
will have HEARs published in August 2012 except for:

MB,BS students

Intercalated BSc students

School of Pharmacy students

Affiliate students

9. Why are HEARs not published for all UCL students who first
enrolled in 2011?

The HEAR is a national requirement for undergraduate
students only except for:

MB,BS students

Intercalated BSc students

School of Pharmacy students

Affiliate students

HEARs are designed to give potential employers and other
universities more insight into programme contents and individual student
achievements that have been verified by UCL. HEARs must be implemented for all
undergraduate students (except those noted above) who first enrol in September
2011; UCL is implementing the HEAR a year earlier than required.

Because MB, BS/intercalated BSc transcripts need to comply
with GMC requirements which include details about clinical placements and
voluntary achievements, students on these programmes will not have HEARs.

Further consultation is taking place regarding the School of
Pharmacy undergraduate students. Affiliate students will continue to receive
transcripts from the Study Abroad Office.

10. Why are there no HEARs for undergraduate students who
enrolled in 2010 or earlier?

Non degree activity is only being verified from 2011/2012
onwards. UCL is unable to verify earlier
activity. Therefore, undergraduate students who enrolled for the first time in
2010 or earlier will continue to receive transcripts with their degree
certificates.

11. Why are postgraduate students not getting HEARs?

The national requirement for the provision of HEARs is for
undergraduate students only. However, consideration is being given to providing
HEARs for postgraduate students at a later date. Postgraduate students will continue to
receive transcripts with their degree certificates.

12. Who do I contact if the academic achievements, such as (examination/assessment
results), are not accurate?

If you think that the information about your academic
achievements are incorrect, you should contact your department/division in the
first instance.

13. Who do I contact if the non-degree related achievements are
not accurate, including missing achievements?

If you think that the information about your non-degree
related achievements are incorrect, you should contact the verifying body in
the first instance; for example, contact the UCLU for a query relating to a
sports colour or the Voluntary Services Unit for a query relating to voluntary work.

14. What non-degree related achievements will be included in a
HEAR?

The Programme and Module Approval Steering Group,
acting on behalf of the Education Committee, reviews non-degree related activities
and approves inclusion in a HEAR according to a set of guiding principles such
as a minimum number of hours or recognition of a significant office
holder. A list of the verified
activities can be accessed here.

15. How often will HEARs be published?

HEARs will be published in August and October each year and
will provide you with all achievements that have been verified up to that
point. You will be above to view interim HEARs from August 2012 onwards. If you wish, you can share your HEAR with
third parties using the token system on Gradintel.

16. What happens to HEARs when I leave UCL?

When you graduate, or leave UCL for any other reason, a
final version of your HEAR will be published in the month of October following your
departure. From then on, you will be
able to access your HEAR on Gradintel.

17. Must I accept all of the information published on a HEAR?

Your academic achievements, such as (examination/assessment results) will be published on a HEAR by UCL.
Any queries relating to this information should be directed to your
department/division in the first instance.

All non-degree related achievements will be published on a
HEAR by default. However, you will have two opportunities in June and September
to remove any non-degree related achievements you do not want to appear on
their HEAR on Portico. You will be given this opportunity for each session that
you are enrolled with UCL. Any previously removed achievements can be
re-instated when the opportunity arises to do so.

However, this facility is not available for prizes. If you do not want prizes to be published on
their HEAR, you must reject the prize from the outset.